{"id":19037,"date":"2024-02-09T16:20:20","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T16:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/how-much-do-youtubers-make-comparing-small-top-paid-youtubers\/"},"modified":"2024-05-24T19:42:41","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T19:42:41","slug":"how-much-do-youtubers-make","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/how-much-do-youtubers-make\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much Do YouTubers Make? Comparing Small &#038; Top Paid YouTubers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I've really gone down the YouTube rabbit hole since I started my channel a few months ago.<\/p>\n<p>After blogging for 2+ years, it's been very enjoyable to mix up mediums and to grow WebMonkey's presence on a new platform.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, starting a YouTube channel has also inspired me to start a new case study!<\/p>\n<p>If you missed the first part, you can checkout my post on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/get-1000-subscribers-on-youtube\/\">how to get 1,000 YouTube subscribers<\/a> to learn how the channel has grown and how you can build your own YouTube presence as a beginner.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How To Get 1000 Subscribers On YouTube - 8 YouTube Tips To Grow Your Channel As A Beginner\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RYN7fvUH-gg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Now, today I want to tackle the question &#8220;<strong>how much money do YouTubers make?<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I've finally monetized my YouTube channel, and the early signs have been incredibly exciting. Needless to say, if you're considering YouTube for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/make-money-online\/\">making money online<\/a>, I definitely recommend it!<\/p>\n<p>I'm going to <strong>break down my earnings as a beginner channel<\/strong>, as well as some earning reports from some top paid YouTubers, so be sure to read this one to the end!<\/p>\n<h2><strong>YouTube Monetization &#8211; How It Works<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>There's already an incredible guest post on WebMonkey about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/make-money-on-youtube\/\">how to make money on YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>However, I want to get into the details of exactly how YouTube monetization works and the options you have to make money as a small YouTube channel.<\/p>\n<p>So, as you probably know, YouTube requires <strong>1,000 subscribers<\/strong> and <strong>4,000 hours<\/strong> of watch time to monetize.<\/p>\n<p>Once you reach this, you can slap Adsense ads on your YouTube videos and start earning money:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6775\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6775\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-6775\" src=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/YouTube-Monetization.png\" alt=\"YouTube-Monetization\" width=\"400\" height=\"274\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6775\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Screenshot from when I was still working towards the monetization requirements.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>However, what I didn't know is that&nbsp;<strong>Google finally announced what percentage of ad revenue publishers get<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, <a href=\"https:\/\/adage.com\/article\/digital\/youtube-ad-revenue-disclosed-google-first-time-topped-15-billion-2019\/2233811\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google keeps 45% of advertisement revenue<\/a> from your channel, meaning you, the creator, get 55%<\/p>\n<p>However, your advertisement revenue isn't as simple as you might think.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, some factors that influence your CPM, or cost per thousand views, include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Niche&nbsp;<\/strong>&#8211; Like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/blog-niche-ideas\/\">blogging niches<\/a>, different YouTube topics cater to more expensive and competitive niches than others. For example, you can expect a finance or ecommerce channel to have a more competitive and expensive set of advertisers than a channel about toys.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Audience Age&nbsp;<\/strong>&#8211; Google tries to limit advertising to children, and advertisers also use age targeting quite liberally. If your content focuses on children and teens, it probably impacts your CPM.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Engagement&nbsp;<\/strong>&#8211; The longer your viewers watch, the more ads they can see. Additionally, viewer engagement on your ads also matters.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Video Length<\/strong>. The reason YouTubers often make videos longer than 10 minutes is because longer videos typically rank better and also let you include mid-roll ads in your video, effectively boosting your ad revenue just for being over 10 minutes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With these factors in mind, let's take a look at how much YouTubers make and what you can expect as a beginner.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How Much Do Small YouTubers Make?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>To cut to the chase, I've been running YouTube ads for roughly 2 weeks and have made&nbsp;<strong>$275 in advertisement revenue<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7119 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/YouTube-revenue.png\" alt=\"YouTube-revenue\" width=\"800\" height=\"314\"><\/p>\n<p>Considering my <strong>channel is under 3,000 subscribers<\/strong>, this revenue amount is <em>definitely <\/em>surprising.<\/p>\n<p>Now, since I haven't had a full month of YouTube monetization, I'm really interested in talking about the CPM here.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, my CPM is&nbsp;<strong>over $13 per thousand views<\/strong>, which is also insane to me.<\/p>\n<p>For context, my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/mediavine-review\/\">Mediavine<\/a> CPM ranges from $25 to $35. When I was running <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/monumetric-review\/\">Monumetric ads<\/a>, my CPM was $13.57.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5150\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5150\" style=\"width: 658px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5150 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Mediavine-vs-Monumetric.png\" alt=\"Mediavine vs Monumetric\" width=\"658\" height=\"380\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5150\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Monumetric had an average RPM of $13.57 versus the near $27 with Mediavine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The fact that a YouTube CPM can match a managed ad network like Monumetric is immensely impressive.<\/p>\n<p>Now, it's important to note that YouTube has <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/youtube\/answer\/2991785?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">certain requirements<\/a> for what &#8220;counts&#8221; as an advertisement view. Basically, you have to watch an ad for more than 10 seconds or interact with it for it to count.<\/p>\n<p>In any case, <strong>my beginner YouTube channel is averaging 50,000 to 60,000 views per month<\/strong> now, and I'm expecting to earn&nbsp;<strong>$500 to $600 per month&nbsp;<\/strong>as a beginner YouTube channel.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, my video on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3bpqp6w5Un4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">how to make money as a teenager<\/a> is carrying 95% of views and revenue, but this just goes to show that&nbsp;<strong>you just need one successful video for YouTube to start paying your groceries or part of your rent<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Other YouTube Income Reports From Small Channels<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Obviously, small YouTubers without a popular video will make less than YouTubers who get lucky.<\/p>\n<p>However, after looking at some other beginner YouTuber income reports, it's still a very promising platform for new channels.<\/p>\n<p>In this video, Cathrin Manning breaks down how she made about&nbsp;<strong>$50 in 2 weeks<\/strong> when she only had 2,000 subscribers (she now has over 100K):<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"MY FIRST YOUTUBE PAYCHECK: How much I make with 2,000 subscribers & how YouTube ads revenue works\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bEWRjz0R6t4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Cathrin is in a somewhat similar niche as my channel and creates content about YouTube, growing online, and YouTube monetization. I expect her CPM is pretty comparable.<\/p>\n<p>I dug up another first YouTube paycheck video from Annie Long, a vlogger\/liftstyle content creator.<\/p>\n<p>In her video,&nbsp;<strong>she states her first paycheck was for more than $800<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How Much YouTube Paid Me for my FIRST YOUTUBE PAYCHECK\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hio2hqn5Zmk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Annie didn't go into her views unfortunately, but I checked and she didn't have a video that really took off for many months of YouTube, which makes her earnings even more impressive in my opinion.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, what it boils down to is that <strong>YouTube has an average CPM of $9.88<\/strong> according to a Q2 2018 study conducted by Adstage.<\/p>\n<p>Again, your niche plays a role here, but I'm still thoroughly impressed at just how much money small YouTubers make.<\/p>\n<p>I think this $9.88 ballpark is good to keep in mind if you want to pursue making money on YouTube over other platforms, especially if you're already getting views (you can extrapolate your numbers\/growth to see if you're happy or not).<\/p>\n<p>Admittedly, I've seen lower reports as well. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/influencermarketinghub.com\/4-factors-affect-youtube-earnings-potential\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Influencer Marketing Hub<\/a>,&nbsp;<strong>the average CPM is closer to $7.60<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In any case, if you pick a lucrative&nbsp;niche and cater to an English speaking audience, expect an alright CPM.<\/p>\n<p>If you read my post on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/blogging-vs-youtube\/\">blogging vs YouTube<\/a>, you'll see I was actually kind of wrong about what's faster to monetize and scale.<\/p>\n<p>You can make money by blogging faster since it takes time to reach 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time.<\/p>\n<p>However, YouTube is already on track to earn what WebMonkey took more than a year to start generating consistently. Pretty nuts!<\/p>\n<h2><strong>YouTube Earning List &#8211; The Top Paid YouTubers<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Alright, time for a bit of daydream fuel.<\/p>\n<p>If you search for how much do YouTubers make, you often get results for the <strong>highest paid YouTubers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>I think learning about smaller channels is more interesting because it's easier to conceptualize, but hey, I love a good list!<\/p>\n<p>In December 2019, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/maddieberg\/2019\/12\/18\/the-highest-paid-youtube-stars-of-2019-the-kids-are-killing-it\/#7dd21ade38cd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Forbes<\/a> released a list of the highest paid YouTubers for that year.<\/p>\n<p>Here's how the rankings break down:<\/p>\n<h3><strong>#10. VanossGaming (Evan Fong)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Evan Fong has more than 25 million subscribers and creates video game content about Minecraft, GTA, and other popular games. He has nearly 1,200 videos and over 12&nbsp;<em>billion&nbsp;<\/em>views.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2019 Earnings<\/strong> &#8211; $11.5 million.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Dauntless Funny Moments - Can We Stop Goku&#039;s Hair?!\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5rRfy9uPLpo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h3><strong>#9. DanTDM (Dan Middleton)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Dan Middleton is a British YouTuber with 23 million subscribers. He's largely creates content about Minecraft but also tackles other video games. His channel has almost 3,400 videos and 16.8 billion views.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2019 Earnings&nbsp;<\/strong>&#8211; $12 million.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Funny TIK TOKS!\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WENb6lBQkJU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h3><strong>#7 (Tie). Markiplier (Mark Fischbach)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>There's actually a tie for position 7\/8 in terms of the highest paid YouTubers in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Markiplier takes one spot. He's another popular gamer (I'm seeing a trend here) with 26 million subscribers. To date, he's made over 4,700 videos and has more than 13 billion views.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2019 Earnings<\/strong> &#8211; $13 million.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"A Heist with Markiplier\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9TjfkXmwbTs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h3><strong>#7 (Tie). PewDiePie (Felix Kiellberg)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>PewDiePie is probably one of the most famous YouTubers just because of how popular he is worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>Felix Kjellberg has over 100&nbsp;<em>million&nbsp;<\/em>subscribers, and was the most subscribed-to YouTuber for quite a long running. He has more than 4,000 videos and 26 billion views.<\/p>\n<p>I'm not sure why he isn't lower on the list, but I know he's taken breaks from YouTube and is mostly an entertainment channel.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2019 Earnings<\/strong> &#8211; $13 million.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Swedish Pancakes Is The ONLY WAY TO MAKE PANCAKES! - CWPDP #1\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xWltikCALgU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h3><strong>#6. Preston (Preseton Arsement)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Preston is another gamer YouTube star who started off by making Call of Duty videos before focusing on a second channel about Minecraft.<\/p>\n<p>Preston has several channels, including Preston, PrestonPlayz, and TBNRFrags. Collectively, this is millions of subscribers, thousands of videos, and billions of views.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2019 Earnings&nbsp;<\/strong>&#8211; $14 million.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Extreme Camo NERF Hide and Seek Challenge!\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gRXabQmjHCs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h3><strong>#5. Jeffree Star<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Jeffree Star's channel focuses on makeup tutorials, and even though he's number 5 on this list, I wouldn't be surprised if his brand deals and other revenue streams are pretty insane.<\/p>\n<p>His channel has 378 videos, 2.36 billion views, and 17.8 million subscribers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2019 Earnings &#8211;<\/strong> $17 million.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Jeffree Star\u2019s Custom McLaren 570S | West Coast Customs\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/E2om6uWnCdo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h3><strong>#4. Rhett & Link<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Rhett and Link are childhood friends who host Good Mythical Morning alongside their own duo YouTube channel.<\/p>\n<p>The pair have millions of views and subscribers across both channels and have made it into mainstream media plenty of times.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2019 Earnings<\/strong> &#8211; $17.5 million.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"2 Men Eat Grape Nuts\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/C4iygswf6us?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h3><strong>#3. Anastasia Radzinskaya<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Anastasia is only 6 years old, so if you feel bad about your day job, join the club!<\/p>\n<p>Her channel focuses on kids toys and you know, things a 6 year old would be interested in. Brand deals are a major part of her business, and her channel has 57 million subscribers and more than 400 videos.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2019 Earnings&nbsp;<\/strong>&#8211; $18 million.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u041d\u0430\u0441\u0442\u044f \u0438 \u0440\u0430\u0437\u0432\u0438\u0432\u0430\u044e\u0449\u0438\u0435 \u043f\u0435\u0441\u0435\u043d\u043a\u0438 \u0434\u043b\u044f \u0434\u0435\u0442\u0435\u0439\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/B7Pkb2a4Nc4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h3><strong>#2. Dude Perfect<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Dude Perfect is a comedy channel that also focuses on trickshot videos and dudes being dudes in general.<\/p>\n<p>With almost 55 million subscribers and 11 billion views, it's also crazy that their channel only has 235 videos.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2019 Earnings &#8211;&nbsp;<\/strong>$20 million.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Unpredictable Trick Shots | Dude Perfect\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aCz-1tcdjN8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h3><strong>#1. Ryan Kaji<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Like Anastasia, Ryan is a kid YouTuber who is absolutely dominating the toys niche on YouTube.<\/p>\n<p>Between advertising revenue, brand deals, and affiliate sales, I'm not surprised Forbes ranks Ryan as the highest paid YouTuber in 2019.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2019 Earnings<\/strong> &#8211; $26 million.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How to Make Playdough Homemade  DIY with Ryan&#039;s World!\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/u8fS-lZmErw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>So, how accurate is this YouTube earning list?<\/p>\n<p>Well, according to Forbes, earnings are pretax and estimated based on &#8220;data from Captiv8, SocialBlade, and Pollstar as well as interviews with industry insiders.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I think it's likely that there are other YouTube stars who earn more, especially because websites like Social Blade really just estimate advertisement revenue; there's no way for them to quantify brand deals or sponsorship or merchandise sales.<\/p>\n<p>So, that brings me to another point I want to talk about:&nbsp;<strong>what are other YouTube monetization ideas?<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Other Options For Making Money On YouTube<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>YouTube is really a mix of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/free-traffic-sources\/\">traffic source<\/a> and a social media platform at the end of the day.<\/p>\n<p>This means there's value in growing your YouTube page, but there's also value in directing your audience to other sources.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some other common ways YouTubers make money:<\/p>\n<h3><strong>1. Sponsorships<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Once again, I think I was a little off in my blogging vs YouTube post because I didn't realize YouTube had so many monetization options.<\/p>\n<p>I've actually&nbsp;<strong>gotten 3 sponsorship email requests <\/strong>so far, which is pretty incredible to me since my channel is still so small.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7120\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7120\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7120 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Sponsorship.png\" alt=\"Sponsorship\" width=\"1024\" height=\"266\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7120\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This one is more of a referral deal and not a direct sponsorship but it's still neat to see!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I don't think these sponsorship\/referral deals are anything too crazy, and in fact, 2 of them are for very questionable programs and I'm not even interested in sponsored videos right now.<\/p>\n<p>In any case, the fact that brands are willing to engage with such small YouTube channels is news to me.<\/p>\n<p>Even if 90% of pitches aren't worth your time, I'm sure there's a place for small YouTubers at the table.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>2. Sell Merchandise<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Another option for making money with YouTube is to sell merchandise that fits your brand\/channel identity.<\/p>\n<p>Again, I don't see this being a massive seller for small YouTube channels, but it's clear that a lot of content creators, celebrities, and musicians utilize this feature:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7121 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Sell-YouTube-Merch.png\" alt=\"Sell-YouTube-Merch\" width=\"699\" height=\"232\"><\/p>\n<p>I also wager that YouTube subscribers are more loyal than most followers on other social media platforms. Therefore, I'd guess YouTube has a better conversion rate for selling merchandise than most platforms.<\/p>\n<p>If you sell on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/etsy-alternatives\/\">websites like Etsy<\/a> or other platforms, YouTube could potentially be another storefront to consider in a weird way if you ever make video content.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>3. Affiliate Links & Driving Traffic<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Since the guest post on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/make-money-on-youtube\/\">how to make money with YouTube<\/a> already talks about affiliate marketing on YouTube, I won't get into it that much.<\/p>\n<p>However, I wanted to touch on it here because I will admit that&nbsp;<strong>for small YouTube channels, affiliate marketing is pretty tough<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Unless you make videos tailored to a specific product or service, simply plugging affiliate links into your description box doesn't really do that much.<\/p>\n<p>My channel gets&nbsp;<em>60,000&nbsp;<\/em>views per month, and I'm barely getting traction on Amazon affiliate links and some financial products and services I recommend.<\/p>\n<p>I've probably made $30 or so from affiliate sales from YouTube. I'm happy to even get $1, but advertisement revenue definitely carries my channel right now.<\/p>\n<p>However, as I've mentioned before, <strong>YouTube is an incredibly engaged source of traffic<\/strong> if you funnel it elsewhere&#8230;just checkout the bounce rate compared to other sources for my blog over the past few months:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7122 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/YouTube-traffic-stats.png\" alt=\"YouTube-traffic-stats\" width=\"699\" height=\"383\"><\/p>\n<p>However, if you're a small channel and don't have anywhere to funnel traffic, making affiliate-focused videos could be a solid strategy if you aren't happy with your CPM\/don't make enough with ads.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Other Common Questions\/Myths<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Alright, time to wrap up the topic of how much money YouTubers make by answering some of the most common questions I've seen around the web.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>How Much Does YouTube Pay For 1 Million Views?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>I've seen this question asked all over places like Quora and even YouTube itself.<\/p>\n<p>However, because of the nature of advertising CPMs,&nbsp;<strong>there's no concrete answer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Average CPM, ad engagement, and what countries your viewers are from plays a&nbsp;<em>massive&nbsp;<\/em>role. Seasonality also matters, as Q4 CPMs are traditionally higher than Q1 CPMs thanks to events like Christmas and Black Friday.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/vloggergear.com\/how-much-does-youtube-pay-you-for-1-million-views\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vlogger Gear<\/a>, <strong>YouTube pays an average of $600 to $7,000 per million views<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>This is fairly in line with videos I've seen from content creators like Shelby Church:<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"This Is How Much YouTube Paid Me For My 1,000,000 Viewed Video (not clickbait)\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/do1VLjNg6AE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>In this YouTube income report video, Church states that YouTube pays an average of<strong> $2,000 to $5,000 per million views<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever the case, if you get a million views, you're looking at some&nbsp;<em>serious&nbsp;<\/em>cash.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>When Can You Go Full-Time With YouTube?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>This is another common question I've seen on Reddit and Quora, and I think there's a math-answer and also an &#8220;it depends&#8221; kind of answer.<\/p>\n<p>If you only make money with YouTube ads, <strong>you'd need millions of views<\/strong> to make the average annual salary in countries like Canada or the United States (assuming a million views pays $1,000 to $3,000 to stay a bit conservative).<\/p>\n<p>Of course, if you put in an effort to sell merchandise and do affiliate marketing, you can generate more revenue.<\/p>\n<p>However, as a realistic guess, I think you'd need s<strong>everal tens of thousands of subscribers<\/strong> to even <strong>take a crack at things<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>This is assuming that when you go full-time, you can grow even faster because you have more time to work on your channel and publish videos regularly.<\/p>\n<p>Ideally, you'd also have other income sources like a blog or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/twitch-streaming-guide\/\">streaming gig<\/a> or something that isn't just dependent on YouTube ad revenue&#8230;events like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2019\/2\/20\/18231561\/youtube-child-exploitation-predators-controversy-creators-adpocalypse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Adpocalypse<\/a> have proven that relying on YouTube ads for all of your income is a treacherous game.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Do YouTube Calculators Work?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>There are dozens of YouTube calculators that estimate how much a channel earns in monthly advertising revenue.<\/p>\n<p>After trying out a few for my own channel, it seems like they almost always undershoot.<\/p>\n<p>Many YouTube calculators think my channel makes $1-$5 per day, even if I enter my views and average CTR.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/socialblade.com\/youtube\/channel\/UCfWlwgHS9mnVbIi4jNgIGtA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Social Blade<\/a> is really the closest YouTube calculator I've found, by far (they give such a wide range, so it's easy to be closer):<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7123 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/SocialBlade.png\" alt=\"SocialBlade\" width=\"599\" height=\"372\"><\/p>\n<p>So, take these calculators with a grain of salt&#8230;or many grains.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Is YouTube Worth It In 2020?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Any online money making idea inevitably gets this question as well. In fact, I've even written a post about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/is-blogging-worth-it\/\">if blogging is worth it<\/a> because blogging gets this question every year.<\/p>\n<p>I didn't know the answer to this question a few months ago. However,&nbsp;<strong>I now firmly believe YouTube is worth it in 2020&nbsp;<\/strong>and beyond if I had to extrapolate.<\/p>\n<p>I started putting effort into this channel in March of 2020.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Within 4 months, the channel is now on track to earn $500+ per month in advertising revenue<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7124\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7124\" style=\"width: 846px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7124 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/YouTube-channel-growth.png\" alt=\"YouTube-channel-growth\" width=\"846\" height=\"378\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7124\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">How the channel has grown so far.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Again, a lot of this was dumb luck because the algorithm decided to push one of my videos. Only time will tell if the momentum lasts.<\/p>\n<p>However, I think it's safe to say that few platforms give you the chance to grow so quickly&nbsp;<em>and&nbsp;<\/em>monetize the results&#8230;you can blog for years or grow an Instagram account and still make <strong>next to nothing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, if you want to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/different-sources-of-income\/\">create a new income stream<\/a> this year, I think starting a YouTube channel has immense potential as long as you can stick to a video per week and put in the work!<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Final Thoughts<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>I know there's no easy way to pinpoint how much money YouTubers make.<\/p>\n<p>However, I hope that part 2 in this series has helped shed some insight into what the top YouTubers are making, as well as how much money small YouTubers make.<\/p>\n<p>The fact that beginner channels can make $500+ within a couple of months is pretty mind blowing, and I think it highlights just how powerful this platform can be.<\/p>\n<p>All it takes is one lucky video for you to turn your channel into rent money or groceries for the month.<\/p>\n<p>It might take months or even a year or two to find that first break. However, the only way to get there is to start!<\/p>\n<p>Thanks so much for reading! I'll catch you guys in the next one \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve really gone down the YouTube rabbit hole since I started my channel a few months ago. After blogging for 2+ years, it&#8217;s been very enjoyable to mix up mediums and to grow WebMonkey&#8217;s presence on a new platform. Additionally, starting a YouTube channel has also inspired me to start a new case study! If&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":19044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[148],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-making-money-online"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":148,"label":"Making Money Online"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/how-much-do-youtubers-make.jpg",640,336,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Tom Blake","author_link":"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/author\/thisonlineworld\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":148,"name":"Making Money Online","slug":"making-money-online","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":148,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":142,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":148,"category_count":142,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Making Money Online","category_nicename":"making-money-online","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19037"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}